


MRI - brain attraction

by Haanjii



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Almost Everyone - Freeform, Alternate Universe - College/University, Annie studies psychology, College, Dancing, Dirty Talk, Drinking, Drinking Games, Everyone Is Gay, Explicit content in later chapters, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, M/M, Masturbation, Mikasa studies journalism, Oral Sex, Professors, Psychological Trauma, Sex, Slow Build, Strip Tease, Students, Useless Lesbians, Vaginal Fingering, mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-11-28 01:42:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18201797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haanjii/pseuds/Haanjii
Summary: Basically, Annie and her struggles through college:- making friends and enemies- handling a ton of workload- skipping classes- running high on caffeineand- finding love (?)





	1. internship initiation

**Author's Note:**

> Yahooi! ^^
> 
> I am so excited!  
> This is going to be a longer story, so stay tuned.  
> Enjoy, everyone! :)
> 
> Happy Birthday to the one and only - our queen of resting bitch face - Annie Leonhardt!!! 
> 
> English is not my first language, so please be forgiving ... thanks!

***beep beep beep***

 

Annie growled. Rolling onto her side, she smacked her alarm clock almost aggressively.

It was 7:30 am on Monday. Small shimmers of sunlight were falling through the curtains. Outside birds were tweeting while enjoying the upcoming warmth of this year’s spring. All in all, it was a beautiful morning and Annie hated it!

 

Just the thought of another week full of work ahead of her made her feel demotivated. Even though she was going to start her internship today, a thing she was secretly excited about, Annie pulled the sheets over her head and grumbled. After her first year studying psychology at the University of Stohess, her favourite Professor offered her an internship. Annie would be working together with other students in research. Her professor mentioned a huge MRI-study regarding some emotion stuff, which Annie already forgot about.

Finally, out of bed, she shuffled into the tiny bathroom of her flat. The blue eyes staring at her as she blinked into the mirror seemed lifeless. Her skin looked pale and her blonde hair was still messy from a night full of unsettled sleep.

 

“You look like a damn Zombie, Leonhardt.” As she stepped into the shower she tried to remember the reason she got up anyway. Why did she agree to take her internship during semester break? While everyone else was having a good time, sleeping until noon, going to parties or doing whatever normal people enjoy, she had to show up in the Professor’s office in less than an hour. _What?! Less than one hour … oh shit. I am going to be so late, better hurry._

 

Stuffing a buttered toast into her mouth Annie struggled to pull her hoodie over her head, so she would finally be able to leave. On her way to the staircase, she knocked impatiently on her neighbour’s door. “What is it, short stacks?” A familiar voice called, a bit muffled, through the door. “Yo big guy and … even bigger guy”, Annie laughed. “Can you please take Carly for a walk? I am already late for my first day at the internship … ” After a short pause, she added “ … please!” The door opened revealing Reiner, a blonde wall of muscles, showing off his biggest smile. “Sure thing! Bert was secretly hoping to be able to mother your cute doggo to death.” Annie let out a sigh of relief. “You’re the best, Berthold!”, she yelled over Reiner’s broad shoulders, before leaving. “Your welcome, you tiny ass!”, he barked after her.

* * *

 

After what felt like the slowest train ride ever, the blonde finally arrived on campus. She literally ran inside the gigantic building. Her top speed sprint was only interrupted by a short stop at the snack point because no one would bear a stressed-out, coffee-less Annie Leonhardt in the morning. Now, with a hot cup of black coffee in hand, Annie made her way to her professor’s office. Inhaling the warm smell, she smiled, for the first time that day. She knocked on the door, after checking twice if this was really the correct room. A cheerful voice sang: “Come in!” After taking a last deep breath and a swing of coffee, Annie opened the door.

 

The office was small, well-lighted, but completely overloaded and one hell of a mess. There were collections of neurobiology books towering on the wooden desk, the most recent psychology journals and scientific reports spread all over the place, not to mention the pile of lab-coats, carelessly thrown into a corner. Annie had to suppress a smile, this office truly reflected Professor Zoe's character.

 

Instead of smiling Annie's scowled. Five pairs of eyes - six if you would add Professor Zoe's glasses - landed on her, the second she had entered the scene. Two - or four - of said eyes belonged to Hanji, glancing at the blonde with the sparkling excitement they were famous for. The bespectacled women sat behind her desk, resting her chin on one hand while the other smacked the table loudly, making the dark-blonde man standing behind her almost jumped out of his skin. He was clawing a journal in his left hand, while his right was holding a pen, ready to note every flash of wit escaping the enigma of the professor's brain. "Miss Leonhardt, fancy seeing you!", she laughed, while he scribbled. _Is he really going to write this down?_ Annie smiled politely: "Sure ... good to see you too, Professor." She added lamely, feeling a bit uncomfortable with still being observed by the others in the tiny office.

 

"Can we get this over with? I don't have all day ... ", a raven-haired man snarled. Annie raised an eyebrow at his bluntness. He was leaning against a bookshelf, face full of disgust as he traced his forefinger through the thin layer of dust. "Levi, don't be rude", the brunette professor interfered. "Tsk! Just start your rambling already, four-eyes!" The man standing behind the professor stiffened at the insult against his boss. Narrowing his eyes in anger, his grip on the pen tightened visibly. Levi rolled his eyes and added clearly trying to provocate the assistant: "No offence, though." As the tall man was about to speak, Hanji's hand shot up prohibiting the arising conflict. "None taken", she smiled calmly. "Moblit, get your pen ready! We're about to overcome the unknown."

 

It took Professor Zoe nearly an hour - and Moblit a total of two pen cartridges - to summarize the plans for the upcoming study. As Annie had recalled correctly the main interest contained emotion, more specifically how people experience fear as an emotion if they had or hadn't witnessed trauma before. Using an MRI-scanner the scientist's goals were to analyse brain activity while the subject contemplates images displaying fear-evoking content.

 

While discussing the details of the study Annie learned, that she would have to work with two other students, Jean Kirschstein and Marco Bott. Glancing at the two boys sitting in the office, Annie could recall seeing them around campus and sharing some classes with them during freshman year. While Marco seemed like a harmless, naive guy, smiling his way through life, Jean was a pain in the ass. He spoke without thinking, was bigheaded and looked like a goddamn horse. Annie hated horses. Dr Crumpy-pants - aka Levi Ackermann - would be the head of the project. Mostly to Annie's amusement, he seemed to dislike horses as well.

* * *

 

When they were eventually able to escape Hanji's flood of words Annie felt positive about her internship. She couldn't shake the feeling of something - or someone - exciting coming her way. While she exited the main building, a new cup of coffee in hand, her eyes caught the shimmer of red scarf passing by.


	2. cheese chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, Annie:  
> \- has her first meeting  
> \- cracks some jokes  
> \- eats pizza  
> and  
> \- gets roasted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yahooi! ^^
> 
> The second chapter!!! Finally!!!  
> I am sorry that it took me so long but psychology finals are stressful -.- (yup, I really study psychology ...)  
> Beware, Horse-Jokes ahead! :D
> 
> English is not my first language, so please be forgiving ... thanks!

Performing a dramatic 360-degree turn with her office chair, Annie whined: "Why is he always late? Does he have to clean his stable before his jockey allows him to go?"

 

The "MRI-scouting-squad", as Hanji ceremonially baptised them, had a meeting starting ten minutes ago. Everyone was present, except for Jean. "Could you please stop calling him names, Annie? You know he is a decent guy. I'll bet he will come in any second", Marco tried to appease the passive-aggressive aura surrounding the blonde. "He better will or I'll cut his ration of sugar cubes", Levi grumbled over the edge of his newspaper. Annie couldn't suppress a laugh. _That was hilarious. Why isn't Moblit here to capture this for our future generations?_

 

The three of them were sitting in Levi's office. To sum it up, this place was the complete opposite of Professor Zoe's working space. Everything tidy, neatly sorted by alphabetical order and completely dust-free. Levi was reading, while Marco clung to his phone, probably texting Jean non-stop, telling him to hurry up. Annie could only imagine the substance of their chat.

 

Marco (23:28): Sleep well, Jean!

  
Jean-Boy (23:34): Whatever, night.

  
Marco (09:50): I'm looking forward to the meeting, but I hope we will all get along.

  
Marco (09:53): I know, I know. I have to stop worrying about what others think of me.

  
Marco (09:55): Do you need something from the snack point?

  
Marco (09:55): Jean?

  
Marco (09:56): Got you a pretzel.

  
Marco (10:01): Where are you?

  
Marco (10:03): Jean, you are late. Levi is getting mad!

  
Marco (10:05): Are you having trouble finding the office?

  
Marco (10:06): I am worried.

  
Marco (10:08): Annie is making fun of you again.

  
Marco (10:10): Are you dead? Please don't be dead!

  
Marco (10:11): Jean.

  
Marco (10:12): Jean?

  
Marco (10:13): Jean!

  
Marco (10:14): JEAN!!!

  
Jean-Boy (10:15): I am on my way! My car broke down, and I had to run. Could you stop that blonde from being nasty? Thanks for the pretzel btw.

  
Marco (10:15): I'm glad you're okay. I tried but, she is too scary tbh. C u xo.

 

Annie fiddled with the strings of her hoodie, trying her hardest not to fall asleep in front of her superior. Jawning she scratched the back of her neck. _I should have gone to sleep earlier. Why do I have to watch Netflix all night, every night?_  
The blonde had gotten up early that morning, wanting to spend some time with her precious dog Carly. The two shared a relaxed walk in the brisk morning air and had a duel playing tug-of-war - but no hard feelings. It was nice spending time with someone without having to interact with human beings.

 

As the door slammed against the wall, causing a bookshelf to totter, Annie could not hold the comment: "Easy DeeJay, easy! Don't hurt your prized hooves." It earned her a glare from the breathless young man. Levi lowered his newspaper: "Good one Leonhardt, but don't think because I dislike you less than those two, you own it." After placing the paper, neatly folded, in his drawer he added with a wink: "Better get down your high horse." The dumbness on Jean's face was priceless.

 

It took Levi approximately 20 minutes to introduce the squad to the MRI-scanner and get them a rundown of the do's and don'ts. The scanner, surrounded by a strong magnetic field, would cause metal objects to fly into its pull. Every person had to discard metal objects, before entering the scanner-room. The most important task was to check the experimentees for metal objects. Levi entrusted Annie with this honour stating: "I don't want Jean to creep out the probands and Marco couldn't handle the responsibility of this task." Annie shrugged it off as Levi trying to mock her but nonetheless, she nodded in agreement and slight pride.

 

The mensuration would start in one week. Marco commissioned to recruit subjects had to print a few flyers, while Jean was in charge of the technical issues. Annie was allowed to leave after Levi's final threats of killing them all if they would mess up.

* * *

 

"He said what?!", Reiner laughed before stuffing a whole slice of pizza in his mouth, chewing loudly. "He said", Annie performed air quotes and dropped her voice, trying to mimic the mode of speaking Levi used to give, "I will hang you up on the flagpoles in front of this shitty university, by your throats, if you three dorks screw this one up!" Reiner almost died on the cheese coming out of his nose from laughing so hard. Berholt sent Annie a worried look while smacking this boyfriend's back. The tiny blonde mouthed a silent 'sorry' in return, trying her best not to look too amused by the view of the man struggling to catch his breath.

 

The three of them were currently chilling in Reiner and Bert's cosy living room. One of the many perks of living next door to her best friends - or as Reiner loved to call themselves her 'brothers from other mothers' and reversed 'the sister from another mister' - were their spontaneous pizza-nights. Berthold had levelled his cooking-skills to an almost grandma-like level, thanks to the fact Reiner was always hungry and a danger for humanity in the kitchen. Annie remembered an incident last summer, involving firemen, a panicking blonde man and pasta. He forced her to vow never telling Berholt, who was out of town, about it though.

 

In retrospect, this was the beginning of them getting closer.

Known as a loner all through high school Annie wanted a fresh start for college. Be more open, smile more and make some friends, easier said than done. Furthermore studying psychology paired with an overpowering disinterest in others and especially their problems seemed like a non-existing thing. Friends at university were rare for Annie. So sharing her cereal with Reiner for three weeks straight, until Berholt got back, turned out to be first-class bonding.

 

Annie savoured moments like this, eating delicious food, talking shit and playing PlayStation, while Carly was lounging on the couch.  
After cleaning up the dishes Bertholt took his seat next to Reiner, leaning over to peck his cheek. The blonde man blushed slightly, so Annie interfered mockingly: "Stop being gay in front of my dog!" While Reiner blushed even harder, Bertholt retorted easily: "Said the lesbian ... " Sudden silence surrounded the trio even Carly seemed speechless. A few shocked breathes later Annie cracked. She laughed so hard, that tears rolled down her face. The blonde fell over onto her back. She might be sore in the morning from chuckling this long. 

_Bertholt, not being known for serving tea this hot, clearly had his moments._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the second chapter of Annie's journey :)
> 
> I promise Mikasa will soon enter the stage :)
> 
> Comment below: Are you interested in some psychological nerdiness?  
> I really appreciate constructive criticism, so feel free to criticize constructively. :D
> 
> Yahooi, have a good one! ^^

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading Annie's journey :)
> 
> Comment below if your favourite character is missing or you want to share a brilliant idea regarding future events.  
> I really appreciate constructive criticism, so feel free to criticize constructively. :D
> 
> Yahooi, have a good one! ^^


End file.
